Home>Broad Video Library>Science for All Seasons: The genetics of obsessive compulsive disorder in dogs - and what it means for humans

Science for All Seasons: The genetics of obsessive compulsive disorder in dogs - and what it means for humans

Different as we may seem, humans and dogs suffer from many of the same debilitating diseases, including obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

For both species, current medical treatments have proven ineffective, in large part due to a lack of understanding the roots of certain diseases. But an exciting collaborative effort between Broad scientists and thousands of dog owners is unraveling the genetic underpinnings of human and canine OCD, cancer, and much more. In this first lecture in the Broad's Science for All Seasons series, the Broad’s Elinor Karlsson discussed recent advances in mapping genes in the dog genome, efforts to determine the genetic causes of traits and diseases in dogs, and implications for therapies in humans.